Victor Mysteries--who's that pianist?

C. H. H. Booth

"Freddy " Hylands

The earliest Victor records made have wonderful and powerful accompaniments on them, but which one of the two above is on what record? Many of these accompaniments are reminiscent of Fred Hylands, and some are a little like berliner's earliest disc records of 1896 and 1897(those were C.H.H. Booth). Many enthusiasts of the early and very collectable early Victor monarchs hear that piano, but they don't stop to really think about it for a minute. Some of the accompaniments sound similar to those on Columbia cylinders of the late-1890's(hmm,  suspicious...). Not many collectors would think about this though, only because the pianist was never credited on the labels of the records, they assume that's the best they could do. 

If they really gave a rap, they would dig through old record magazines to find their closest thing to the answer to the "uncredited pianist" problem.

I know, all the "piano trolls" on youtube(those record people who say who they think the pianist is on every old record video they can find) say that C.H.H. Booth HAS to be the pianist on Victors because he was Berliner's pianist. But that is not always the case, I tell you! I hear all of those licks from Hylands all over the place on several Victors. 

here is one fantastic example with Billy Golden from 1901:

https://ia601405.us.archive.org/6/items/BillyGolden/BillyGolden-UncleJeffersonCoonSong.mp3

here's another with the great Silas Leachman, also from 1901:

https://ia600504.us.archive.org/12/items/SilasLeachman/SilasLeachman-MrJohnsonDontGetGay.mp3

(Listen! at around 2:13-2:14 for that quick octave pattern!)

Now, this one really gets me! All of those quick broken octaves! and the VERY strong and messy patterns(the second take listed here really gets all of these factors):

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000577/Pre-matrix_B-1125-My_girl_from_Dixie

This fascinating Victor by Arthur Collins has always got me wondering, this one was recorded a little bit later in 1903:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/1000017493/Pre-matrix_B-162-Old_Bill_Jones

SO many bad and missed notes! The pedal is held for too long a couple of times! ARRGH!

Booth or Hylands, how wasted could you be damn it!

Pretty convincing! I know that they alternated the piano chair from here and there, so Victor did not really have a so-called "House pianist" in its earliest years. So if all of you record collectors out there think you know who Victor's pianist is, you've got to take your best guess and use your logic of piano styles. that is how you make an educated guess in this situation. 

So, I have something to say to all early record collectors, which applies to every record label with piano accompaniment. How about listening to that damn piano player a little bit, huh? Because the house pianists of the 1890's and 1900's worked twice as much as the singers we all hear so often. They worked eight or more hours every day the studios were open, and they had to deal with every one who worked there, whether they liked it or not. Take some time to really focus your ears on the pianist, and really try to hear every note caught on the record, hear the expression in their playing, and hear their mood when they play(Hylands was a wonderful example of moody playing...). What they improvised(oftentimes) was what they wanted to be preserved on the records for however long they were to survive, whether it be 1 year or 100 years. One who hasn't taken this into consideration will really be opened at what they hear, and what they can learn from these forgotten musicians. They were forgotten in the shadows of the singers they accompanied. Which is unfortunate, because the pianists truly gave different views of the music that the singers sang on the records, even the frail and classical Frank P. Banta could improvise those Rags and create a whole new idea of syncopation. Take a listen collectors. The old house pianists deserve it. 

*this post is dedicated to my dear friend Cliff Kennedy, and his curiosity of early recorded house pianists*

studio stories no. 4--Compliments from Miss Irwin!

"You must be this 'Len' I've been hearing about, who's been singing my songs to the phonograph.

You do it with considerable skill Leonard."
"I should say the same to you dear--but the phonograph is not yet made yer acquaintance."

One busy day in late-1896, Len Spencer was making his way to one of the recording studios he was dedicating himself to at the time, as he kept on dressed in his seal skin coat and high silk hat, an impressively dressed stocky lady came up to him. This wasn't just any lady though, this was the famous "Rag-Time" singer May Irwin. Irwin had been presented with many of the versions that the phonograph boys made, and found Len's rendition the most amusing of them all. J.W. Myers, Dan W. Quinn and George Gaskin were to "tied up" for the loose and rugged Rag-Time style that Spencer naturally had the talent for. She was taken by Len's raucous and slightly romantic tone of voice on his records of her songs. She was mostly impressed by his rendition of her "The Bully":

also with her success of "Crappy Dan(de spotin' man)":

and her tune "An Awful Wicked Nigger":

just to name a few of Spencer's May Irwin imitations. The popularity of the popular recoding artists recording Irwin's specialties faded when she actually came into Victor in 1907 to record only four of her songs. Those records sold and extremely high amount of copies, even if there were only four different selections, and she was performing all over the place at the time. 

(this story came from the  November, 1896 issue of The Phonoscope)

I hope you enjoyed this! 

"The Oakland Dandy"--Jay M. Roberts

"He lived beyond his means..."

Jay Roberts. Where do I start with this boy. He was a true San Francisco character, he is what people sixty years after his prime would call a "hippie". He was just an innocent blonde, born in Oakland California in 1890 who just happen to find a connection to the piano in his teen's.

 He was already a well-known child star in the San Francisco and Oakland area by the age of 15, and he was being recognized in mostly classical backgrounds before 1908. 

But in 1908 and 1909, the boy went astray from his innocent church-playing ways. He became tired of the highly-restricting ways of the community he was a part of. 

The wicked ways of ragtime had him! 

He immediately fell in love with the music, and wanted to play it every time he played anything from then on. He began to live the "Rag-Time Life", and he did---big time. He took up the cutting contests, the late-night shows, and took too high of an advantage of his money. Even if he was only 20, his first success, "The Entertainer's Rag" became a million seller hit within the next two years after he published it, in Oakland:

(From my own sheet music collection)

This tune was really something to start a music writing career...

It was heavy-handed, catchy, comical, creative, hard-to-play, and SCATTERED AS HELL! (some of my well played ragtimer friends even have trouble playing some of Roberts' quick runs in the piece!)

This was Roberts showing off all his style and eccentricities, it was truly a dandy Rag, just as he. 

He was the living image of his three Rags. 

"the Entertainer's rag" was a way for Roberts to kick out everyone who dared to pass him at the high staked cutting contests. He owned the show wherever he went, not intentionally even! He just looked that way.

 At over 6 feet tall, and a dashingly handsome-faced blond boy, it was hard not to set your eyes on his intense blue eyes. His playing was scattered, quick, heavy-handed, and progressive melodically. He was the epitome of the San Francisco Ragtime style. 

Not long after his first two success' in music, he began to take advantage of the "sporting life' he was then living by 1912. He bought a very expensive Regal auto by the end of 1912, and invested in several very pricey plots of land in Oakland and San Fran. By the end of 1913, he had acquired a small plane!(whew! what an investment) He seemed to go out flying his plane over the city often, as he became a very careful and skilled pilot by 1916. This must have been an amazing thing to see if you lived in SF in this time. But unfortunately for him, every one in Oakland ad SF knew him, and this meant that the law was becoming suspicious with him by 1914. He seemed not to have done any harm in 1914 and 1915, so nobody bothered with him, they just let him continue his performing, as he was still a very popular attraction. He was especially quite the sight at the 1915 Panama exposition in SF, as he has been said to have played there for many pianists who later became novelty pianists.

 All who described him saw him as a wildman, quick-minded on the piano keys, but played the Rags very well. He had a rather disorganized melodic structure usually, but his power and style over-rulled that factor. He began the pieces with all of his hair in line, and fresh faced, but after every set, his hair was all in random strands all over his face, which was then tinted red by the set's end. 

His innocence was severed to its ending in the next year, 1916. He took up the I  habit a few years prior to 1916, but this is when he got into a big bust for it. He was also accused of flying in weapons to aid the rebels of the Mexican revolution. All of these things were considered vile to both his family and the SF court system. These two heavy charges got him exiled from SF, and he never pleaded once the desire to come back. So Jay just set off on his way down to Los Angeles. 

He lived in L.A. with his wife, Grace, as an occasional performer and a pilot, living mostly out of the public eye for the rest of his life. He remained in L.A. until about 1922, and then he made the(rather terrible) decision to go and live in Panama. He could not get any work whatsoever in this rather secluded latin country, and he was not the type who wanted to work out at the canal, but he did anyway at any time he had the means to. He had nowhere to turn to, he probably had to beg people for some of the snuff(opium) that he was than addicted to. 

Roberts couldn't tae life any longer, in 1932(at the deep depths of the great depression)he scribbled a little note to whomever came later, that he was tired of life and the pain he was going through. So he shot himself with a small revolver and his wife came later only to find him dead on the floor with the heartbreaking note.

He became a forgotten ragtimer from then on. The Oakland Dandy was no more.

His style still echoes in the surviving old music halls of San Francisco to-day. Being a bay area citizen, I can still hear and see the faint echoes of the ghost of Jay Roberts whenever I go a little north to San Fran or Oakland---especially Oakland. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

studio stories no.3 no lights! and the walrus

"No lights are needed Fred'rick, a single candle is enough to get that awfully wide silhouette of yours! We have our reasons to complain about such a thing, it's pretty obvious why. 
Now-- get off!"

I was talking with one of my dear Ragtimer friends yesterday night and I brought up Fred Hylands into the conversation. To my(and my father's) surprise, she had heard of Mr. Hylands before, but wasn't sure where the name came up and why it did. But she brought up two little things that I immediately took them for classic studio stories. 

The first thing she brought up was this story where Hylands was standing on the stage for a photograph to be taken, but the photographers ordered Fred that they wouldn't take it in such a lighting, and not for the reason many would think. It was not because of the camera's poor abilities, it was the snobbish opinions of the camera boys. Why did they do this? Well, it was all because of his size! They just couldn't get over it!(assholes!) 

This story made me and my dad wail with laughter, but I felt so bad about it afterward, because I respect the man so much. Well, everyone runs into this problem sometime. 

Alright, so the second thing she told me was that all of these theater newspaper writers all made fun of Hylands because he looked like a sort of walrus on the stage(hey! it's damn true!).

just proving my point...

 This was the thing that really got me, and every time it comes to my mind it makes me laugh! It was the truth, and the truth hurts oftentimes. I don't really see any reason to poke at him though, there was nothing wrong with his stage presence and he was clearly a very entertaining pianist and performer. This is just a perfect example of the harsh ways of the critics in the entertainment world. 

I cannot thank my dear friend Aja for these wonderful and comical stories! 

I would have put the dates for these stories, but she did not specify, so when I find out, I will add to it accordingly. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

being a House pianist--Freddy Hylands

The life of Frederic E. Hylands was a true musician's tragedy.

 Well, without all of the love and many broken hearts factor, he wasn't in the business for the gals(clearly!).

But for everything else he was all for! As that is clear by the age that he died at, 41. This is exactly why my novel is about Mr. Hylands, as there's quite a heap of good things to make a good story out of his life. Even if he only married once and didn't have any children, what he did outside of his married life is what made him a wildman, this made him the fiery, iron-willed leader of the White Rats Actors' union. 

His time at Columbia's recording studio was a large section of his rather eventful 41 years, as this time in itself was very eventful. From 1897 to 1904, he served as the Columbia Phonograph Company's most beloved pianist. There was nothing wrong with Fred, as he was just as anxious to explore the world's opportunities as his fellow recording boys. Freddy was young, hot-spirited, determined, unusually intelligent for his background, reasonably handsome for a portly fellow, and stubborn as a mule. He seemed to be perfect for the job at Columbia. 

He was metaphorically, but in reality, they could have picked a better pianist(really!). He was a wonderful choice no doubt, and he left some amazingly odd examples of very early recorded Ragtime, and what it really sounded like. He came in every day to play behind the singers and performers that came and went at Columbia's bustling studio. He stayed for as long as the singers came, which would often be for six to eight hours. He would only stay longer if they had an exhibition(which I explained in a previous post) which often began around 7:00 pm, and oftentimes lasted until after 1 a.m. These days were no doubt a heavy blow to Freddy, as he could only do so much as a heavier gentleman. He must have always had his flask with him when he went off to the studio in the morning, as he probably drank between the many a takes, as this was also typical of the artists themselves to do so. 

In some aspects(depending on your own opinion) Fred Hylands can be considered an alcoholic, as clearly thinking of what the man died of. But this was a typical musician's habit, it was invariable in the sort of friends he knew at Columbia. He must have been such a workhorse that there's not a doubt that he drank to try to sink away his stress and cares. There wasn't much time for Fred to rest as Columbia's pianist, as it was a very demanding job that was constantly changing with every new singer that came into the studio, and with every new song that was set in front of him at the piano four feet off the ground. 

However, Fred's long-term suffering and health problems began in his time at Columbia, because this is where the first amount of heaving strain took control of his free-willed soul. His friends of the studio opened up his mind to what the sporting life was like. Fred deciding to join their tornado was the worst mistake he ever made, it was pleasuring in more ways that one, but it ultimately struck a big blow to his whole disposition. 

This whole thing of him not living very long is all entirely true, as his father(a railroad engineer) lived at least forty years longer than his hopeless son Freddy. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

a ravishingly crass sense of humor

Russell Hunting had, no doubt, the most fascinating and progressive ideas of the earliest recording artists. He was the first person to get into big legal trouble in the recording business, and the first great entrepreneur of the recording industry(along with Len Spencer). He also had the most dirty sense of humor of any of the early recording stars. 

His sense of humor was very modern in many ways. 

Sex jokes, inappropriate jargon, satire, and a WHOLE LOT OF SLANG! 

That's Russell Hunting for ya. 

The way that he wrote in the earliest issues of The Phonoscope is only a fraction of the crude sense of humor that he had, it had some of his jokes and plenty of slang that's sometimes hard to understand(even for a scholar like me!). I hate to offend anyone if they don't particularly like crude humor, but I would like to share one of the few surviving cylinders of Hunting's that were supposed to be destroyed when he got into trouble in 1896, just to fully show how off his sense of humor and nasty mind was: 

https://ia802303.us.archive.org/3/items/GimletsSololoquy1892/03%20-%20Gimlet%27s%20Sololoquy%20%281892%29.mp3

(you don't have to listen to this if you don't want to, there's an awful lot of cussing in this one, but that's not too unusual for Hunting)

His speaking voice to me has always given me nightmares, especially on the example above. 

He takes Shakespeare to a whole new level. 

But this is the origin of his obscene and rather peculiar sense of humor--Shakespeare. He was a prominent actor in Shakespearian plays in the 1880's, and clearly from this cylinder, he must have been a real dark, evil-voiced character in these plays. So that made him perfect for this. However, the public of the music business was not yet ready socially for Hunting's type (clearly by all the legal trouble he got into), and music wouldn't once again allow this sort of obscene talk  for many decades afterward. He was too forward-thinking and idiosyncratic for the minds of the 1890's public. 

Even if Len Spencer's sense of humor was slightly crass as well(kind of hard to notice it in all of the sketches he did, but if you listen closely to certain ones, you can catch it)

here's the best example I can think of at the moment for Spencer's minimally crass sense of humor: 

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/4000/4093/cusb-cyl4093d.mp3

(I own this cylinder! but this is not my transfer)

Spencer compiled the rather famous sketch above in 1906(this take was recorded in 1910), and this really represents Spencer's sense of humor, jargon, take on being a lover, and his general demeanor. 

Now, back to Hunting. He had a sense of humor that was not only progressive, but also quite typical of the time period, he was recording what the phonograph parlor keepers wanted. And oftentimes, it was what his friends in the business wanted. They probably thought that his daring naughtiness was off the wall! And him getting in trouble was a medal of courage and of his adherence to the recording business. 

It certainly made his records sell even more, he just landed right on his feet when his time in jail was done! 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

rare photos of early recording stars, with explanations!

I had recently found the need to share some of the very unusual and rare images of the recording stars who are often mentioned on this blog. 

Which one of the phonograph boys is this?

  Why this is the only place in the old recording world where you'll se that this is Steve Porter. Why so? I was recently looking though the pictures in my "1890's" folder and came across this rather common looking image of a gentleman looking into a phonograph-like machine. But I immediately thought, it looks like Steve Porter! All the features line up, the size of him in general, as he was not very tall anyway, and that machine itself. It isn't a typical old coin phonograph from the 1890's. It's either Porter's invention, the "Stereoscopic picture Machine" which showed slides and film stills with the music of the same theme(it was basically an experimental film with sound machine). Or it's Len Spencer's patented improved version of  few months before this contraption of Porter's. Here's a picture of Porter from around the same time period to prove my point, and the machine I mentioned:

(see what I mean!)

Now I know that I have used this picture numerous times before, but it needs a little more explaining attached to it. Here's what The Phonoscope says about it: 

these exhibitions must have been something that the Spencer's advised to get better advertising out there to the public. This thing allowed for the general public to sink their teeth into how records were made and how they were sold. This picture really gives a VERY rare look into the Columbia studio in the late-1890's and early 1900's, and it really gives you a perfect view of how that Fred Hylands man was set up at the piano. I'm sure that Hylands probably had to go to all of these --performances, rather, and got pretty tired of them quickly(as he was like Len Spencer a little bit in the sense of constantly wanting creative freedom). But his picture also gives us a look at two recording artists who are almost NEVER seen! Harry C. Spencer and Fred. Hylands, what could be better than that! 

I'm sorry that this isn't a very good picture. But this is once again a rare look inside an 1890's recording studio. More specifically, the Edison studio. This was taken the same year as the Columbia picture above, which makes this a very fascinating comparison. Ossman would be playing with Banta at Edison, whereas, at Columbia he would be with Hylands. Which one of the two did he love more? Who the hell knows! He was an odd character when it came to who he liked and didn't like.  Mind you, this picture was taken in Edison's smaller room.(there was a big woody room and a small plain room for studios.)

Now, this last picture is a FASCINATING one. Just what it is is amazing. 

Not everyone can be identified here, but a few faces are recognizable. 

Frank S. Mazziotta can be spotted:

Here he is more clearly to prove it:

Charles Prince in in the center, and there's many more faces I recognize, but cannot pull out their names. I'l try to think of some more of them, and as I do I will add on to this post to finalize some more of the personnel. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

The Three house pianists, and how to tell them apart!

Christopher Henry Hudson Booth(C. H. H. Booth)

(was Berliner's late pianist and Victor's first pianist until 1904 or so)

Frank P. Banta

(recorded primarily for Edison in the late 1890's to 1903, but also for Victor occasionally)

Frederic E. Hylands,

(recorded mainly for Columbia from 1897 to 1904 but also branched out into Zon-O-Phone and a few Victors)

All three of these patrons of Rag-Time had very unique piano styles, but they were also all very similar in many ways. Banta's was a mix of rough piano tuner and classical, Hylands' was a mix of L.M. Gottschalk and itinerant Saloon piano, and Booth's was a mix of who knows what! 

There are ways to distinguish their piano playing, but most of them are very slight. 

Banta played syncopated melodies with a straight left hand, and the melodies he often played were quick and beautifully executed, with no flaws in his improvisations. Banta clearly had some musical training, and whatever he had must have been very upscale and refined. He had a very light and graceful touch on the piano keys

Hylands is a little easier to hear compared to Banta, and in my opinion, he's more interesting to listen to. And my proof for this is because-- he was unexpected! Hylands' piano style consisted of complicated quick walking basslines with broken and heavily syncopated right hand melodies, most of which were completely improvised and different on each take of a song. One thing that Hylands did which had disappeared from Ragtime when he died was syncopating the left hand octaves WITH the right hand melodies, how 'bout that for strange. He had a very heavy and burly touch on the piano keys. 

Booth on the other hand had a very similar piano style to Hylands. As he did the quick right hand patterns and syncopated melodies as well, but he DID NOT do the walking bassline spiel. But everything else otherwise is pretty much the same with Booth and Hylands. Booth also had a very heavy and burly touch on the piano keys, further complicating identification. So in this, it makes it EXTREMELY difficult to try to pick out which one of the two it is on Victors and Zon-O-Phones. 

here's some examples of each of them:

Hylands in about April, 1902 with Arthur Collins(beautiful record, perfect example of early recorded Ragtime!):

https://ia600407.us.archive.org/17/items/ArthurCollins_part1/ArthurCollins-BillBaileyWontYouPleaseComeHomeCoonSong.mp3

Hylands in 1904 with Bob Roberts(wonderful obscure Ragtime!):

https://ia802704.us.archive.org/35/items/BobRoberts/BobRoberts-BytheWatermelonVineCoonSong.mp3

this one is up for grabs on whoever can figure out if this one is Banta or Hylands, with Arthur Collins once more. the solo at the end makes identifying who's playing VERY difficult(beware! this is a pretty messy cylinder):

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/2000/2453/cusb-cyl2453d.mp3

(killer solo at the end!!!)

Now, this one is Banta, on this one with S. H. Dudley in early 1903: 

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/3000/3891/cusb-cyl3891d.mp3

(Hmm, now that I just listened to it, I now notice that Banta took quite some licks that he  did four years before this was recorded, i.e. that solo at the END!)

Just for "shits and Giggles" here's the AWFUL take of Hylands playing the same song on Columbia in 1898 with George W. Johnson:

(this record is the definition of a "bad take" ha ha! He's pretty loaded ain't he.You can just hear it!)

https://archive.org/details/TheWhistlingGirl1898

This is a very good example of C. H. H. Booth's piano style in 1901 with the great Dan W. Quinn on a Victor Monarch:

https://archive.org/details/GoWayBackAndSitDown1901

Sorry I didn't showcase very many examples of C. H. H. Booth, the only reason for that is because he is the hardest to distinguish of the three of them, and he was a mix of everything that Banta and Hylands were known for. I have many more great examples of these three's mastery, but this is only a sample of what I have found. 

I hope you enjoyed this! :-)

I need help on a project! Help!

From the March, 1899 issue of The Phonoscope 

I have been wondering ever since I found this little snippet who this Burt Green guy is. As Hylands clearly met this fellow early Ragtimer when he was the music director at Tony Pastor's theatre in the first two years Fred was on the east coast. I have heard of this Burt Green in the actual death notice of Ben Harney in 1938, here is a piece of it below: 

"Harney was not [Ragtime's] creator but without his brilliant playing the new idea might have been presently forgotten. With his so marked, a host of imitators sprang up , but only two, Mike Bernard,  house pianist at [Tony] Pastor's, and Burton(Bert) Green, then playing for the shows at Huber's museum, approximated the brilliance of his performance, and both owe their inspiration to Harney[...]"

So from this curiosity, it seems that Mr. Green was a popular Ragtimer in the same circle of friends as Fred Hylands, Ben Harney, Mike Bernard, and the Spencer brothers. 

(side note: The "Spencer Brothers" were Len and Harry obviously, but to connect Burt Green to them, the Spencer's were listed as performing at the same Huber's museum in March of 1896 , where Green was apparently the house pianist who played this new-fangled thing called "Rag Time", so this is most likely where Spencer became acquainted with Green, and perhaps more interested in "Rag Time", this place is also where Len probably took his first interest in Ada Jones) 

So, the help that I want from all of you(very few obviously) viewers is anything on Burt Green! Please! I will not let another Rag-timer go forgotten under the shadow his more popular fellows! 

Anything you can find on Mr. Green will be written down and documented, deeply appreciated! 

a funny character to sketch

Clearly from the illustration above, "Frederic" Hylands is a comical character to sketch, as I do like to draw him often, due to his rather funny looking features. He must have been quite  a surprise at the first sight of Columbia's manager, Victor Emerson. Mr. Emerson probably didn't know what to think of him at first. He certainly didn't create that image of a tall, thin, stringy, long-haired pianist. He was pretty much the complete opposite of that. 

He wasn't necessarily very tall, at about 5 foot 11(well, compared to Len and Harry Spencer's 6 foot 3), he had funky looking, rather-- feminine, perky-looking lips,  sincere blue eyes, and dark blond hair swept outward at the back. 

He had a straight, but distinctively shaped nose, dirty teeth with probably several of them missing, and of course, he weighed just under 250 pounds as of 1898. His personality is a real theory pool though. He was clearly a very intelligent person who did not receive the best formal education, also musical education. He was to most accounts a very pleasant and accepting person most of the time, but you couldn't boss him around too much, as he was as stubborn as a mule. He was especially this way when it came to music, more specifically, Rag-Time. 

He wasn't one to be bossed around. He was a free musical spirit who was always going his own way. 

One thing that I will forever wonder about is his voice. He has been documented as being an amateur singer of the Rag-Time songs that he often played, like Mr. Roger Harding. 

He was a rather innocent looking character, but when one heard him play, they would sure as hell back away from that thought, cause he played piano like a fiend. Like a monster.

 Like a wildman! He had unusually dainty hands for his piano style however, someone may notice that unusual small thing, because I hear him hit tenths on the piano here and there! 

Fred's ringed hand, not too long and chubby

His hands are a real curiosity, as they were somewhat long, but not Eubie Blake long if ya know what I mean! They were very rather slender and fragile-looking in the few pictures there are left of him, and they're considerably fair. What I'm meaning to say here is that his hands did not really fit his body type very well. It's very odd really. 
Even though he was a hard drinker, he still could somehow play his Rag-Time very well, but like I have said before, he became very anxious to play piano when he was loaded. So that would mean that they would have to let him go and do what he did, IMPROVISE! 

I hope you enjoyed this!

Arthur Collins describes recording

I don't usually take the words of the vain Arthur Collins, but this little snippet(it's undated, but I think that this is certainly from around 1905 or 1906) is a perfect quote for how to describe the early recording process. Collins wouldn't be considered one of the earliest recording artists(i.e. Len Spencer, George Gaskin, etc), but he started rather early, in c.1897. The exact year of his beginning in recording is a little questionable as it had been said that he was an assistant of Edison's manager Walter Miller starting in supposedly 1896(this year is less likely) or 1897. This is why he did quite a good amount of announcing on Edison brown wax cylinders in the late 1890's to the end of brown wax cylinders in 1902.

However! What Mr.Collins says in the second paragraph was only true of the records made after 1901. As brown wax cylinders could not be mass produced, they let as many takes as they could pass, even if a few of them were a FUBAR if you know what I mean. This is why brown wax cylinders are fascinating to listen to, especially Columbia's and the obscure labels other than Edison. Collins came in when records were still made the old way, so he had to deal with the messy takes being accepted, but he wouldn't go there when he spoke, as he was somewhat modest in the Victorian way(it would be too negative of a subject to discuss publicly). 

Also notice! Mr. Collins does not know how long Harlan had been recording for! And for Harlan it's pretty obviously documented that 1899 was his beginning year at Edison. Every take counted in the 1890's. And Collins came along too late to truly know this, as I'm sure that in his sly relations with Len Spencer in performing(i.e. they were both Masons! how bout that for kinky!) Spencer probably shared his many experiences with the older Collins about the earliest years of recording, and how tiresome it could become. Collins never became as wise as his Rag-Time predecessor Leonard. Unfortunately, Len's long-standing popularity in Ragtime was up for competition when Collins came on the recording scene. Spencer's ideas and genius lived on when he decided to take Collins in for his third installment of the "Columbia minstrels" in c.1902. Therefore, Len still had the control of the Columbia staff and what minstrel and Ragtime material everyone was recording. Collins probably was completely "weirded out" by Spencer's heaving ambitions and lifestyle. But all the same must have been accepting of it. 

Leonard was a veteran recording artist, so Collins had to give him some respect, even if Collins himself was three years his senior. 

I hope you all enjoyed this! :-)

A Wild Mind---Len Spencer

you can see so much in his eyes, some sort of devilish ways...

This picture has always been, in my opinion, the best representation of Spencer's personality, especially when he was younger. It must be taken into consideration that this was taken around the time he was split with his second wife...

You may have thought his brother Harry was a weirdo, don't get me wrong they both were, but Len was a different kind of weird. He was very impatient, extremely intelligent,  sometimes almost spoke with a stutter, rather eccentric, and determined to get every idea he and his brother had out there, at any cost. He must have been a bit off-kilter most of his life, as he split with his second wife in 1892 (yes, his second wife, his first one died in 1891) and remained separate from her until 1895. He must have done this again in the late 1890's and early 1900's, as he was said to have come into record every day, and as was custom, he had to be at the studio by around 8 am.

You couldn't keep him from the music, as I'm sure that he learned many of the thousands of songs recorded from playing piano and singing at home, when he was at home. His two surviving daughters remembered their father fondly, and saw him as a funny man but also a rather absent father, as he was gone for much of his girls' childhood, but clearly he had enough time at home to move the family a few times between 1898 and 1906. As goes with most of the early recording artists, they all had a different opinion on him, and a different view of him. Someone like Fred. Hylands would have been a perfect example of someone to talk to about Spencer, if only he had lived longer... Most of his friends saw him as a very dandy and modern fella with everything fashionable and up-to-date with him, but only a few saw him as wild, manic, and moody. He was a comical and kind person, but he had some awful habits. 

These habits of his hit him harder than any of his friends. as that can be seen in all the later picture of him. 

He has that slightly manic look in his eyes in this picture. But what you see is true Victorian intellect. 

He was indeed what The Phonoscope portrays him as, comical, dandy, quick-minded and up-to-date. As I have mentioned on this blog before, he always had something else on his mind, whether is be another tune, or it be something completely different. But he had the perfect voice and means for singing and playing Ragtime. He practically recorded on Ben Harney's behalf in the mid-late 1890's and again in the early 1900's. Recording Ragtime was not an uncommon thing, but he really got the Rag-Time spirit going around the Columbia staff, and onto their records. He saw this fad early, in 1896 in fact, and he saw true potential in this just as Ben Harney did, he saw it the way it was, just an extension of the minstrel tunes he was already recording by then. 

Spencer could get temper-mental sometimes when small things were not right, and he kind of a snob when is came to the music he liked. He did record over 600 different songs as of November 1896, and just over 62,000 cylinders in all by the same date. But this large sum doesn't mean that he wasn't picky, there were plenty of sings that he just left for his friends to record, such as "Put Me Off at Buffalo", which was one of the biggest hits of 1895 and 1896, and surprisingly, Spencer never recorded it. All of his friends did though. He must have always been found tapping his foot to something or whistling melodies, whenever someone came upon him. As ideas of all kinds were always running through his mind. 

One thing that very few have noticed from Spencer's records is that when he was fully alert,  he often fumbled sentences in monologues, as he was reading off the sheet of paper and his mind was moving so quick that it made him stutter a few words or get them mixed up. And yes, this is when he was completely sober. When he was a little drunk, this changed quite a heap, as he wasn't too quick for his means when a drink or too overtook him. In my opinion, he was funnier when he was drunk and did the black dialect material better that way. I'm sure that he and his studio friends thought the same thing.

His temper and habits must have worsened as he got older, as he was half-committing himself to so many things, it was wearing him out. 

No doubt, he had a very pleasing speaking voice, perfect to make the kind acquaintance of the phonograph. He must have acted rather meek in the machine's presence when he just started out in 1888. But he quickly learned the power in his voice and knew that that was the way to make these records sound better. 

Not bad for a 22 year old college teacher.  :-) 

The phonograph was calling to him. It's greedy horn wanted his voice in it. 

His from 1891, ideas ran wild, from balancing techniques to finding a new girl to marry. As his first wife had just died, he was now single and free to do what ever he wanted until a new girl came his way. 

It's crazy to try to analyze his personal life, as from what has been found, it must have been a complete mess, far too complicated to get in the right order. Not that his life was like that of Mike Bernard's, but is was probably a similar story, minus the many women involved factor. 

Much of the music that Spencer wrote had been lost to history, as many of the songs he wrote were not recorded by him. But the ones that were are an interesting mix of minstrelsy and comic songs. His song(recorded by several other singers) "The Minstrel Man of Mine" is a great rare example of  Spencer's song writing style: 

(here's Spencer and Ossman doing it on s Victor)

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002519/Pre-matrix_B-3376-That_minstrel_man_of_mine

This song really represents Spencer's quick-witted and dandy personality, the line from this " you're all the money" really reflects the amount of slang that he used, and also "Yer quite the caper" and "T'here's somethin' doing". Very up-to-date and dandy Leonard! 

I hope you enjoyed this!

(I'm doing all of these articles on Spencer to get everything written out for my possible presentation of a project involving Spencer in April)

A recording session with J. W. Myers, 1898

Welsh baritone J. W. Myers(c.1864-c.1919)

and of course, his favourite pianist! 

"Freddy" Hylands

Fred Hylands was J. W. Myers' workhorse, or informally, my father would consider him "his bitch". 
an example of their relationship below:

J. W. Myers was a very demanding singer (as clearly seen above)when it came to the nit-picky music that he chose to record at Columbia. Very little of his repitoire consisted of comic songs and Rag-Time, even though he is mentioned in The Phonoscope to having very good minstrel song skills which is somewhat ironic. Myers loved Hylands' piano playing more than anyone else at Columbia, but when I say that, I mean his non-Ragtime piano playing. Mr. Spencer was reserved for the full control of Fred's Rag-Time playing. 

Sometimes I think that Hylands was just Len Spencer's and J. W. Myers' puppet on the piano, because none of them could play piano well enough themselves, so they used him to translate what they would play if they could play it. But Freddy Hylands never wanted to be a puppet to anyone! No! He was a free musician who demanded musical freedom in the recording studio, and just in general. Hylands expected a heap of things from his paymasters and his fellow working musicians, so in this strong feeling, he didn't want to get "knocked around" by the studio singers, even though he let it get to him many of times. Such as the one shown below: 

(From the September 1898 issue of you know what)

this getting "kicked around" nonsense did not get to him too often in the time he was at Columbia, it only really seemed to hit him hard when he got older. 

J. W. Myers was a great singer no doubt, but on many of his Columbia's in the late-1890's and early 1900's, you just have to listen to the absolutely wild piano accompaniment behind him, just hitting all kinds of outrageous notes and bass notes, you can just hear Fred's distress in his playing sometimes. You can almost see that look on his face when Myers "kicks him around" by telling him what he HAS to play on the next take. Myers must not have been a fan of Fred's wild improvisation, as he did not seem to do his usual on many of the records where he's accompanying Myers. That was an unusual notion to have on the Columbia staff, as most everyone trusted Hylands, even if they knew he was pretty tired or loaded(which he was most of the time...).

Even someone like Arthur Collins was tolerant of Fred's shenanigans. You hear Collins' early Columbia's and you can hear Fred just tickling away the ivories behind him while Collins does his less-than-sober renditions of the latest Rag-Time numbers. It's great that Hylands was such an accepting person, as he was hard-working, laid back, and comical all at once. Myers must have been a perfectionist when it came to non-Ragtime numbers, as he must have climbed up to the piano to show Fred very specific measures and what he wants to hear from him on them when they record a certain take. That must have pissed off Fred a few times here and there, as he was the type that wouldn't want to get bossed around whatsoever. But then again, it's good he didn't have a short fuse like Vess L. Ossman or Harry Spencer had...

I hope you enjoyed this!